Our Brain, the first in a three-volume series, is an epic fantasy adventure in a bizarre, allegorical world.
This world is ruled by Our Brain, also known as The Guv’ner, a huge pinkish mass seated in a mountain range that came about through the collective will of its people. It leaped into reality from the realm of thought. And the particular thoughts that birthed Our Brain were, in the novel’s language, to “ever grow and strengthen the righteous power of government to control our lives for the common good.”
The people that benefit from this collective thinking are the Soose. Yes, pigs, but a mutated form that, while still loving mud baths, walk on their hind legs, go to college, and carry “snappers” or what we might call personal computers. Their opposite numbers are the Nags, descended from horses, who champion individualism and want to wipe out the collective sentiments of the ruling tribe.
Four Nags hatch a plan to change the direction of Our Brain and create a world of their liking.
The hero of the book, a Soose named Hennie Honeygate, sets out to discover their plan and, to his great surprise, finds himself following them inside the fleshy mass of Our Brain. Hennie and the Nags embark on a picaresque adventure.
Be prepared to have an illustrated anatomy source at hand as Honeygate chases the villains through the neurological pathways. Portions of the brain take on personalities of their own, such as a demon named Obex, labeled here as the “fabled ruler of hell” in the mythology of the Soose. The obex, in anatomy, is a canal-like structure in the upper part of the brainstem that connects the fourth ventricle to the third.
Our Brain offers political thought, social satire, and sheer nuttiness.
This story will likely appeal to those with conservative political views. Readers will find fantasy adventure mingling with satire such as that of Orwell’s Animal Farm, Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, and traces of George Will, Michael Crichton, and Terry Gilliam in these pages.
The SOMERSET Book Awards recognize emerging talent and outstanding works in the genre of Literary and Contemporary Fiction. The Somerset Book Awards is a genre division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards (The CIBAs).
Chanticleer International Book Awards is looking for the best books featuring contemporary stories, literary themes, adventure, magical realism, or women and family themes. These books have advanced to the next judging rounds. We will put them to the test and choose the best among them.
These titles have moved forward in the judging rounds from all 2022 Somerset Literary and Contemporary Fiction entries to the 2022 Somerset Book Awards LONG LIST. Entries below are now in competition for 2022 Somerset Short List. The Short Listers will compete for the Semi-Finalist positions. Finalists will be selected from the Semi-Finalists. All FINALISTS will be announced and recognized at the Chanticleer Authors Conference (CAC22).
The First Place Category Winners, along with the CIBA Division Grand Prize winners, will be selected from the 25 CIBA divisions’ Finalists.
We will announce the 1st Place Category winners and Grand Prize Division Winners at the CIBAs Banquet and Ceremony on Saturday, April 29th, 2023 at the luxurious Hotel Bellwether in Bellingham, Wash. sponsored by the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference.
These titles are in the running for the SHORT LIST of the 2022 Somerset Book Awards novel competition for Literary and Contemporary Fiction!
Join us in cheering on the following authors and their works in the 2022 CIBAs.
Conon Parks – Everything That Was
Michael Richard – Chosen’s Beautiful Heart
Karla Huebner – In Search of the Magic Theater
Maggie St. Claire – Into the Wind
Vee Kumari – ANKANAM
Linda Moore – Attribution
Kathleen Stone – Tell Me You Love Me
Datta Groover – The Reluctant Visionary
Theresa Griffin Kennedy – Talionic Night in Portland
Ja-ne de Abreu – The Energy Inside Valsin’s Choices
Rebecca Miller – Touch
Grace Marcus – Visible Signs
Robert Tucker – The Discontent of Mary Wenger, Paper Dolls, Book 1
Patricia Sands – The Secrets We Hide
Meredith Berlin – Friends with Issues
Frances Howard-Snyder – A Willow Cabin at Your Gate
Zubin Aibara – Gulliver’s Tramps
J. F. Alexandria – Children of the Sun
Julia Tvardovskaya – Identifiable
David B. Seaburn – Give Me Shelter
Michael Chatlien – Northern Lights
Julia Brewer Daily – The Fifth Daughter of Thorn Ranch: A Modern Ranch with an Ancient Secret
Ellen Sherman – Into the Attic
Fran Hawthorne – I Meant to Tell You
Antonia Gavrihel – Back to One: Take 2 Ambient Light
Karen Heenan – Coming Apart: A Novel of the Great Depression
John Nicholson – The Parables of Chance
Terry Tierney – Lucky Ride
Jeff Hartman – The End Of The War
Leslie Kain – Secrets In The Mirror
Patricia Averbach – Dreams of Drowning
Tom Stewart – Immortal North
Jeffrey Dale Lofton – Red Clay Suzie
Brenda Stanley – The Still Small Voice
John Hansen – Hired Hand
Jo Deniau – Stiff Hearts
Drema Drudge – Southern-Fried Woolf
Dianne C. Braley – The Silence in the Sound
Maggie Smith – Truth and Other Lies
Susan Lynn Solomon – Raising Kane
Barbara Francesca Murphy – Lucina’s Letters
Lynn Byk – The Fearless Moral Inventory of Elsie Finch
Peter McDade – Songs By Honeybird
Edward Pontacoloni – The Rookery
Lee Bukowski – A Week of Warm Weather
Betsy Withycombe – The Murder of Sarah Grosvenor
Gloria Mattioni – California Sister
Morgan Sloan – Scars and Honey
Matthew Marullo – Welcome To Opine
Robert Steven Goldstein – Will’s Surreal Period
Karen S. Bell – Like a Lily Among the Thorns
Harriet Cannon – Exiled South
Ann Marie Stewart – Out of the Water
PROMOTING OUR AUTHORS!
This post has been posted on the Chanticleer Facebook Page. We try to tag all authors listed here in the FB post. However, for FB to allow us to tag an author, that author must LIKE our page and Follow Chanticleer Reviews. FB rules — not ours.
We are now accepting submissions into the 2023 Somerset Book Awards for Literary and Contemporary Fiction. The 2023 CIBA winners will be announced at CAC 2024.
Seating is Limited. The esteemed WRITER Magazine (founded in 1887) has repeatedly recognized the Chanticleer Authors Conference as one of the best conferences to attend and participate in for North America.
A young adult fantasy gem, Dana Willow’s Druids of the Sky, is a story about the power of found family and self-discovery.
On a steampunk version of Earth, humans and druids have tensely coexisted for much of known history. Leah lives a content life with her merchant father aboard Skyport, a giant world-traveling airship held aloft by a metal called Heracleum. Another merchant boards Skyport with the hope of selling his druid creatures to humans as pets, but when one imprints on Leah, she discovers she’s not as human as she thought.
Revealed to be a half-druid, her calm life traversing the human world is about to change forever.
Leah leaves Skyport to seek out a druid community in hopes of finding whatever remains of her infamous family. Leah has a lot to discover about herself and must do so carefully in the face of prejudice against her nature.
After departing from Skyport, Leah comes across a small druid town and meets Aspin, a young druid also struggling to find her place in the world. She is an alchemy school dropout and struggles with insecurity in her magical abilities. Together they embark on a journey to uncover Leah’s family, finding plenty of danger along with small but significant acts of kindness.
Druids of the Sky is a page-turner with a flowing style that fits the young adult genre wonderfully.
Author Dana Willow creates authentic emotional connections among her characters, growing them into complex and dynamic people. At the heart of the book is a romance intolerable to this world of druid and human conflict. This beautiful element of the story adds significant depth to the polarizing races and cultures of human and druid societies.
Throughout Leah’s journey to find her parents, she encounters many who wish her harm, but just as many who hold out hope that one day druids and humans can live in peace. Druids of the Sky is a reminder that we are never alone and that there is always kindness in the world.
This story shows the beauty in a journey shared with others.
Dana Willow writes an ambiguous ending with many questions unanswered. This sly trick leaves readers with plenty of room for personal interpretations and hope that the story will continue well beyond the last page.
Dana Willow’s debut novel Druids of the Sky is a heartfelt and relatable coming-of-age story, a must-read young adult fantasy novel. In a massive and congested genre, Druids of the Sky adds a needed touch of kindness and compassion.
Ruthy Ballard’s latest middle-grade novel, Elvia and the Gift of Passion, takes us to another planet in a distant galaxy. But the journey begins grounded on Earth.
Elvia lives a dull-as-dishwater life with her boring parents, Sally and Earl Hill. She dreams of living in Tanzania (or on Mars) after a DNA test reveals she is 99.1% Zulu, with a dash of Irish to explain her red hair.
When her mother wins a safari in a work raffle, Elvia’s dreams start to materialize. As the stubborn and dissatisfied daughter of two overprotective parents, Elvia does what any child in her situation would do; she ditches them. In the meantime, her parents try to fit in some relaxation and see the sights without their daughter.
This trip becomes far stranger than Elvia could have imagined.
A lion named Prudence steals food from the kitchen, and Elvia’s red hair draws the attention of every medicine man in a fifty-mile radius. But these are acorns compared to the real event: a wormhole that opens to pull Elvia through, into a different world. The lion is blamed for eating her, then the witch doctors are blamed for stealing her and selling her red hair, but when neither of these theories pans out, Sally and Earl are left with no daughter, and only the office of “Parents of Swallowed Children” to provide solace.
Elvia arrives on a planet called Urth, and meets the uppies, guides for findlings (Earth children), who knew that a child with great passion would soon arrive. Elvia is paired with Lacie, the most beautiful fashionista on her planet, but also the most self-centered and irresponsible uppy. Lacie teaches Elvia about the craft of naming colors, like Deepsea Dive for blue, and White Water for white. Lacie melts the hearts of men wherever she goes, and she uses her powers to travel in style and solidify her name as a color-naming wizard.
But Lacie’s self-obsession turns dangerous comes when she abandons her post to attend the Wayrun Fashion Show. Elvia, renamed Alive, is left to fend for herself; trouble comes a-knockin’, and his name is Rats, who convinces her to stow away with him on a submarine. Lacie’s neglect allows the lighthouse beacon to go dark, causing that same submarine to lose its charted course and crash. She has no idea that Elvia had stowed away until she’s found alive, having escaped the sinking sub while rescuing Rats.
Ballard weaves a delicate tale, rich and unique.
Imagination runs wild in this adventure, filled with mishaps, misunderstandings, and huge mistakes. Ballard takes us to infinity and beyond and brings us back again with an Elvia who now understands her place in the world. This satisfying tale will have readers turning pages into the night to see what Elvia will do next, and where her journey will lead. Elvia and the Gift of Passion delivers excitement and surprise on every page.
November brings insight, reflection, and contemplation of the state of affairs in which we find ourselves. As the year winds down, so, too, we reflect and ponder what we have done, who we are, and who we would like to be.
It’s a perfect time to curl up with a good novel, you know, the type that grabs you and lives with you long after you put it down.
This is why we celebrate novels that are literary, satirical, and contemporary. This is why we celebrate the Chanticleer Int’l Book Awards – Somerset Literary Novels Writing Competitions.
We chose William Somerset Maugham because we love his work and love what he has to say about it:
“I am a made writer. I do not write as I want to; I write as I can… I have had small power of imagination… no lyrical quality… little gift of metaphor I had an acute power of observation, and it seemed to me that I could see a great many things that other people missed.” W. Somerset Maugham
W. Somerset Maugham was a British author who wrote plays and short stories and novels. He was a dashing and daring man who did not wish to follow the other men in his family to practice law. Imagine, an individual in the Victorian Era… He was born on January 25, 1874, in Paris (at the British Embassy) and died on December 16th, 1965, in Nice, France.
During the First World War, our Somerset proved his valor by serving with the Red Cross in the ambulance corps (remember his earlier medical training) and was recruited by the British Secret Intelligence Service right before the October Revolution in 1917.
Somerset dove into medicine and was fairly good at it until he wrote his first novel,Liza of Lambeth(1897) and all bets were off. The book flew off the shelves and people were reportedly wrestling in the streets for copies to gift their loved ones. (*Creative license at work – however, you don’t know that this did not happen…) He was known to say, “I took to it (writing) as a duck takes to water.”
At the age of sixty-six, he had to flee with only a suitcase from the encroaching Nazis as they advanced across Europe. He escaped to England and then on to South Carolina, in the U.S. where he continued to work on the screenplay for Razor’s Edge. He moved to Hollywood and then eventually back to France.
Did we mention that W. Somerset Maugham was repudiated to be the highest-paid author of the 1930s?
It’s obvious why we chose Somerset to represent our Literary & Contemporary Fiction Awards!
Abbie Rose Stone is a woman determined to follow her newly discovered dream of producing her own craft hard apple cider while navigating the ups and downs of family life with her grown sons and husband.
Abbie Rose knows how to deal with adversity, and dives headfirst into this new chapter of her life with energy and passion. She describes her early adulthood years of infertility struggles and the hardscrabble way she built her young family through invasive medical procedures, a surrogate attempt, and adoption barriers.
The 2019 Somerset Award Grand Prize Winner was:
The Proprietor of Theatre Life by Donna LeClair
Still in progress, we’re excited to review Donna’s book when it comes out!
Gregory Erich Phillips’ A Season in Lights is a well-crafted, engaging exploration of creatives, each following their heart and trying to reach their dream.
Against backdrops of the 1980s AIDS crisis and the more recent COVID-19 pandemic, the story entwines the lives of a 30-something dancer and an older musician as they strive to make their artistic mark in the cultural capital of New York City.
Here in a two-fold unveiling, the story comes to life from the first-person perspective of Cammie, a starry-eyed aspiring dancer from Lancaster, PA, and the third-person reveal of Tom, a more seasoned black pianist. He longs for a classical career but is too often labeled a jazz musician. Cammie first encounters Tom in a studio dance class where he’s taken a job as the musical accompanist. Befriended by the gay dance instructor, Tom heeds the worldly advice offered about surviving in the Big Apple. “All you’ve got to do is convince people that you belong. You’ve got to tell them who you are before they tell you.”
The 2021 Somerset Award Grand Prize Winner was:
Lies in Bone Natalie Symons
A review of Lies in Bone is forthcoming. However, we know you’ll love this intricate story told with beautifully tight control. A mystery lies at the heart of this book that has the feeling of a grown-up To Kill a Mockingbird meets Serial Production’s S-Town Podcast. Highly Recommended.
Will your novel be recognized as the best of the best in the Somerset Awards for 2022? Find out!
The last day to submit your work is November 30, 2022. We invite you to join us, tell us your stories, and find out who will take home the prize at CAC23 on April 29th.
As our deadline draws near, don’t miss this opportunity to earn the distinction your literary novel deserves! Enter today!
The SOMERSET Book Awards is a division of the Chanticleer International Book Awards – the CIBAs.
The winners will be announced at the CIBA Awards Ceremony on April 29, 2023, which will take place during the 2023 Chanticleer Authors Conference. All Finalists and First Place category winners will be recognized, the First Place Winners will be whisked up on stage to receive their custom ribbon and wait to see who among them will take home the Grand Prize. It’s an exciting evening of dinner, networking, and celebrations!
First Place Winners and Grand Prize winners will each receive an awards package. Whose works will be chosen?
The excitement builds for the 2022 SOMERSET Book Awards competitions.
A disinclined traveler journeys into the heartland of the revered Mount Kalash Parikarma in Tibet. Inner Trek by Mohan Ranga Rao follows a voyage that culminates in self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment.
Mohan Ranga Rao, a retired Indian businessman, finds himself between a rock and a hard place when a ruthless Bangalore mob boss threatens him to sell his land at a throwaway price. The situation escalates when he discovers that his trusted lawyer has joined forces with the enemy. He can only turn to his wife for solace.
With nothing for him to do about his land, Rao vows to trek around Mount Kailash, a holy Tibetan Mountain. This travel memoir traces his and his wife’s journey to the deified Himalayas, the land of Lord Shiva. Rao shares intimate details of his experience, including the spiritual transformation that he went through during his challenging high-altitude trek.
Like a medieval troubadour, the author writes with keen precision and finesse.
Deriving his inspiration to visit the holy mountain from his wife Mamatha, Rao is candid in spelling out the reasons why he was initially reluctant towards prayers and their healing power. In tandem, he deftly careens through the emotions he experienced upon catching sight of the mountain along with the noteworthy aspects of the journey. This swiftly culminates into a very colorful and informative insight.
Further, Rao examines what it is about Mount Kalash that has compelled so many people to take the plunge. He studies why travelers would willingly put themselves through such risk and adversity for the pilgrimage to Tibet. He does not shy away from sharing the sacrifices that they made – financially, emotionally, or otherwise, but does it in a witty and heartening tone. The chapters are a refreshing respite from the monotony of daily routine that at times threatens to envelop us.
Written with emotional lucidity and propped up by his relaxed aura of reporting, Rao’s eyewitness account of the arduous journey is an outstanding win.
Buoyed with remarkable photography, each picture tells a story of its own. This makes Inner Trek: A Reluctant Pilgrim in the Himalayas a captivating read for both ardent and armchair travelers. Rao shares his indelible account and experiences in a riveting manner that pulls the reader into these mountains.
Every line in this travelogue runs truer than any ornate prose could, creating a well-layered and tightly braided portrait. Some illustrations invite the reader to laugh, apprise, and reflect, while others spur the urge to travel. Far more than an adventure tale, Inner Trek by Mohan Ranga Rao deftly balances escapist entertainment with wisdom as it morphs into a spiritual lesson about human life and the importance of staying true to one’s faith.
Growing up alone on the streets of Saint Louis in the mid-1870s, nineteen-year-old Samantha Davis has had to fight for everything.
When she rescues Colonel Brady from armed attackers, she isn’t trying to be a hero or land a dangerous new job, but the moment Brady sees her deadly aim and unparalleled courage, he knows he’s found his new undercover agent. Brady has been tasked with infiltrating the KGC, the Knights of the Golden Circle, a group of Southern sympathizers hellbent on bringing down the government in a Confederate uprising.
Brady believes Sam will be the perfect partner for Ross Cooper, a veteran agent who spends his off-time as a trail boss in Kansas. However, Ross is less than thrilled with Brady’s choice of the untrained, bad-tempered girl. Despite his misgivings, Ross agrees to team-up with Sam, and the two go undercover as Jim and Virginia Van Meter, a newlywed couple from South Carolina visiting Washington. After being introduced to Adam Mundy, the leader of this cell of the KGC, Ross (aka Jim) agrees to use his shipping business to help the Confederate cause.
The plot to rise again also means an assassination attempt on President Grant, and Ross must find a way to stop the uprising or see the president killed. Meanwhile, Sam is intent on doing her own investigation. Between the KGC and Sam’s hairbrain attempts, Ross has his hands full. On top of that, the longer the two play the happy couple, the more complicated their feelings become. As the conspiracy heats up so does their relationship, and the two must fight their feelings and the men plotting to plunge Washington into chaos.
The star of this novel is the courageous protagonist, Sam Davis.
From the first introduction, Sam bursts onto the scene with fire and gusto. At her young age and in this time period, she should be husband-seeking in layers of petticoats and ribbons. Instead, suspenders and pants are her wardrobe of choice, and finding a husband has never entered her mind. Even though she sometimes second-guesses her new role as the first female secret agent in this newly formed agency, Sam refuses to quit and give up her obligation to a man who plucked her off the streets. Keeping her ragged nails covered with gloves and hiding her omnipresent boots become her priority when she playacts as Ginny Van Meter.
Even when she must don the garb of a spy, Sam refuses to give up who she really is, and thank goodness she doesn’t! Repeatedly her heroics save the day. Her decidedly unladylike behavior is just what the colonel needs to foil the KGC. This girl is far from the “sit and wait” mentality of many of her contemporary compatriots. From riding into a cowboy camp armed with only her six-shooter and a letter from Colonel Brady to being arrested for trespassing, Sam flourishes on action. At times, Sam is reckless without forethought to what her actions will mean for Ross and his plan to slowly infiltrate the group. With her “peppered” language and the gun hidden in her silk handbags, Sam’s irreverence and fearlessness are endearing while her sass will keep the reader thoroughly entertained.
The historical context and references within the novel provide insight into a turbulent time in American history.
The novel’s focus on the Knights of the Golden Circle sheds light on a nearly forgotten society of Confederate sympathizers, a group with infamous members such as outlaws Jesse and Frank James and assassin John Wilkes Booth. Interweaving the truth into a fictional tale is often a daunting and confusing task, but this book seamlessly does exactly that.
While characters like Adam Mundy are fictitious, the object behind the KGC, overthrowing a government battered by the Civil War and Reconstruction, was a very real threat. Their refusal to acknowledge Lee’s surrender at Appomattox even ten plus years later could easily have created world-changing events. Ross and Sam’s involvement in this fictional assassination attempt on President Grant is a tale that could have been both possible while making an engrossing story. The action is non-stop with believable support characters adding to this captivating plot.
The magical creatures of the Vale are being destroyed, in Rey Clark’s fantasy adventure novel, Legends of the Vale.
The Cursed Queen, an elf bent on controlling all magic, is wreaking havoc on the inhabitants of this formerly peaceful, beautiful world co-existing parallel to normal life on Earth. As a woodland fairy, Robyn Greywink isn’t able to do much because of his small size; however, because of his father’s dying command, Robyn finds himself responsible for the last dragon, the final defense against the queen’s power. In a last ditch effort to protect the unhatched egg, Robyn sends it through a portal into a forest on Earth.
Before Robyn can retrieve and move the egg, it is found by Allison Doyle, a fifth grader who has no knowledge of the secret world around her. After the egg hatches to reveal a tiny purple and green dragon, she is Awakened to magic and quickly becomes Izzy’s protector. She and Robyn are determined to return the hatchling to the Vale.
After enlisting the help of her friend Vanessa, the three embark on a journey into a magical realm, but at every turn, they are pursued by the Hunter, the Cursed Queen’s chief assassin. When Allison discovers she has a much bigger role in the fate of the Vale, she must find the courage to face an enemy with the power to destroy anyone – or anything – standing in her way.
Determination and perseverance to duty are two major themes shining through the adventure within this novel.
Robyn, a creature so tiny he has no real power beyond the magical dust he carries, is given what seems to be an unattainable and insurmountable challenge. His father gave his life to secure the dragon egg after watching the Cursed Queen and her elven army kill the only adult dragons left in the Vale by sealing their power within the jewel of her sword, Death Striker.
Knowing he has no hope of defeating such a foe himself, he sends the egg to Earth then follows it, entering a foreign land with only the limited dust he is carrying. He refuses to give up on the dragon baby nor give up the mission given to him by his dying father. Robin knows he cannot dishonor his father’s memory by taking the cowardly way out and abandoning the egg. There’s no time to mourn or even think of the danger he now finds himself in because he cannot let the egg hatch in a place without magic. He must Awaken Allison and convince her to help him return the dragon to the Vale.
Allison is just a girl starting a new school year.
She thinks she has no unusual abilities or talents, but as a student of Kuk Sool, a Korean martial art, she is a warrior within her soul. Allison and Vanessa defend the tiny dragon against trolls and goblins before even entering the Vale. She goes from facing school bullies to a deadly Hunter overnight, and she takes all of this in stride, never allowing her uncertainty or fear keep her from a duty she acknowledges as her own from the first moment Izzy looks at her.
The dragon chooses Allison as his protector because he sees her inner strength. Upon arrival in the Vale, she soon learns she has been chosen not just to protect Izzy but to save the entire world. It is her job to overthrow and defeat the queen who has terrorized all of the creatures in the Vale. She cannot let her doubts stop her from helping everyone under the tyranny of the Cursed Queen, her Hunter, or her army.
The world of the Vale is so well-crafted that the reader will immediately feel immersed in a cursed land.
From trolls who turn to stone in sunlight to enchanted buildings that defend those inside, the fantasy-building is thorough and wonderful. Readers will find themselves seamlessly immersed in a world totally different from their own, and while the worlds built in high fantasy can often be difficult to understand, the rules of the Vale are accessible and understandable for young readers, who will find themselves facing all manner of creatures. They will feel just as Awoken as Allison and will revel in their discoveries.
In true Lord of the Rings fashion, this fantasy adventure will send readers spinning through a world of adventure and magic.
Dreams become a reality for a high schooler who gets more than he bargains for when he unwittingly releases a demon in J. L. Sullivan’s urban fantasy novel, From Brick and Darkness.
Fifteen-year-old Baxter (Bax) Allen encounters a creepy homeless-looking man at his apartment complex with purple eyes. The stranger, who asks for Greg, Bax’s estranged father, hands him a ring affixed with a purple stone. The man says that the costume jewelry is valuable, although Bax has difficulty believing his claim.
At school the next day, as he shares his weird experience with his best friend, Jason, Bax accidentally rubs the ring, the stone emits a hypnotic glow, and a small monkey-like creature appears, saying, “How can it serve?” Once Bax and Jason realize that the ring summoned a genie (or Janni, as the creature says), the two plan to investigate this strange phenomenon further at Bax’s house. One thing leads to the next, and before the boys know what’s going on, Ashley, Bax’s neighbor catches a glimpse of Janni. She joins the boys and is sworn to secrecy about this enchanted creature.
Although Janni’s job is relegated to fetching objects instead of granting wishes, Bax wonders if it has untapped power, especially when Bax has a vivid dream involving his estranged father.
The dream activates the ring, causing it to emanate a purple light. Janni, who admits to knowing where to find a more powerful djinn – an ifrit, more akin to a demon – leads the trio to an ordinary box fitted with yet another purple jewel. Bax rubs it, producing a gastly-looking creature that Bax immediately orders back in the box.
That evening, Bax has another vivid dream that, to his horror, exactly matches the death of Nick Ruiz, a popular student at Truman High. The mysterious conditions behind Nick’s demise can only point to one culprit: the ifrit. Bax and his friends feverishly scramble to find a way to stop the demon from unleashing more harm. What the trio doesn’t know is that the ifrit has more sinister plans in the works.
Rising young adult author, J. L. Sullivan, combines mythology, theology, and astronomy to create an invitingly fresh, nail-biting coming-of-age teen tale.
At the center of all the “ologies” is an ordinary teen with ordinary desires, except that he often wonders about the father he barely knew who seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth. Sullivan excels at making not only Bax Allen a real person, but making the entire St. Louis-based environment come to life. In Bax’s world, teens are just teens with hormones, angst, bullies, and rumors galore.
But what happens when, amid a commonplace high school atmosphere, one teen accidentally walks into a realm beyond the three-wish genies’ basic concept? Sullivan’s imagination takes “curiosity killed the cat” to a new level when not just Bax but his clever best friend and Bax’s annoying teen neighbor are grouped as an unlikely trio on a research-driven quest that turns deadly. Because Janni and the ifrit only answer to Bax, he constantly finds himself in sticky situations. Tension builds between him and his mother as his excuses pile on top of one another.
Sullivan’s sure and engaging writing style offers a well-balanced mix of narration and dialogue with a small but mighty supportive cast that provides readers with an inside scoop on the main character’s thought processes and internal struggles. Scenes slowly build, especially while highlighting victims and surly characters, creating non-stop tension and a gripping page-turner.
From Brick and Darkness is guaranteed to become a new teen favorite.
Ryan J. Lyons presents Drums and Dragons: A Field Guide to Mokele-mbembe and Other Living Dinosaurs in Africa with such a realistic edge, readers may wonder at the fictional account of the many prehistoric survivors contained within the book.
Lyons crafts Drums and Dragons as a journal written by an assistant curator, who joins an expedition into the African jungles to discover cryptids. Readers will become immersed in the spell-binding story of what happens when one dares to believe that this world still has hidden things yet to be discovered. Lyons’ approach to his work will delight and inform readers, as every aspect of these creatures’ lives is carefully documented.
Meet Matt Preston, an assistant curator at the F. Donald Hagstrom Museum of Natural History in Fairview. His life takes a strange turn, and he encounters the notorious “monster hunter,” Walter Spink. This meeting sets the stage for a mission to find dragons in the African wilderness.
The expedition leads the two dragonologists to uncover the existence of many species of surviving dinosaurs.
Preston records it all. The comprehensive work includes additional information in its appendix: A. Brief Guide to African Dragons, B. List of Plants Consumed by Mokele-mbembe, and C. Body Measurements of the Biafran Sea Dragon. Preston’s journal serves to shed light on Walter Spink’s legitimate discovery, which an apathetic public dismissed and mocked in the 1980s.
It turns out that not everyone seeking the elusive beasts is a friend to them.
Spink and Preston must preserve these species from natural predators in the forest and from human game hunters. Meanwhile, a feticheuse, a witch doctor of Toukalaka village, attempts to stop the two men from seeking more dragons. She warns them that they are the most significant risk to these creatures’ survival. As for Preston and Spink, they believe in what they are doing.
Drums and Dragons illustrates how we derive meaning and purpose through caring for others and other species, and author Lyons accomplishes this with a good bit of humor.
Spink, a well-informed naturalist, divulges information on dragon physiology, diet, habitat, behavior patterns, and plants indigenous to African forests. Moreover, he shows compassion for the dinosaurs, to the point that he frets about one female mokele-mbembe’s choice for a mating partner. This dry humor permeates Matt Preston’s record.
This story concerns the nature of dwelling on desire.
Spink determines to stop the hunters from killing his savage dragon friends. He also insists on keeping track of their lives as long as possible. When the feticheuse demands that he leave the dinosaurs alone, and in exchange, she will keep the creatures safe from the hunters, he is torn. What happens next will make the book stick in readers’ minds long after it is finished.
Growing up alone on the streets of Saint Louis in the mid-1870s, nineteen-year-old Samantha Davis has had to fight for everything.
The magical creatures of the Vale are being destroyed, in Rey Clark’s fantasy adventure novel, Legends of the Vale.
Dreams become a reality for a high schooler who gets more than he bargains for when he unwittingly releases a demon in J. L. Sullivan’s urban fantasy novel, From Brick and Darkness.
